It took me a while, but I can now see a purpose in speaking to the discussion of my departure from Yale University for the University of Toronto. Hence this video.
I moved with the family last year, largely for family reasons, attracted personally by the prospect of a change to Toronto and to its Munk School in particular; both Yale and the University of Toronto dealt with the transition very gracefully. I loved being at Yale, and at the same time I am looking forward to some new possibilities in Toronto.
Because I regarded the departure as relevant to students and colleagues at the institution where I taught for almost a quarter century, I laid out my reasons for the move in my departure note to Yale.
Without speaking too directly in the video about private matters, I address four public framings of last year’s move which arose in recent weeks: (1) that I fled the present administration; (2) that I am a coward; (3) that leaving Yale is politically regressive; and (4) that I have disengaged.
None of these framings touches the circumstances of my decision. I address them because they tell us something about the moment that we are in.
I can see why personal attacks are tempting, and also where they lead. If we tear down others, we can tell ourselves that we are doing something ourselves — when in fact the opposite is true.
No one has to take me as their guiding light. We all though have to recognize that our allies are imperfect, and seek out what is best in those with whom we choose to work. Freedom is solidarity. The path to unfreedom passes through dismissal and disdain.
I am not a very on line person, so I wasn’t really aware that there was some sort of imbroglio until friends sent me nice messages (always a bad sign) and this wise essay by Rebecca Solnit (there are sentences in it that are worth reading twice; she is a perceptive person.)
Like I always do, I made this video in one take, improvising. There is one thing that I wish I had said to Americans but didn’t: I am still with you.
This past academic year, after the family move to Canada, and before and after the inauguration, I made appearances in Connecticut (twice), Illinois (three times), Michigan (twice), Ohio (seven times), Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, New York (four times), Rhode Island (twice), Tennessee, Texas, and Washington DC (twice).
That’s in addition to a series of wonderful public events in Toronto and Vancouver and the two trips to Ukraine and the visits to eight European countries that I mention in the video.
I’m out there. I’m trying. In various places. And what I have to offer in one place has to do with things I learn from people in others. The photos below give a taste of where I was this last academic year, and what I was doing.
Other than these paragraphs, those photos, and the Yale letter, the video is what I have to say. There won’t be more. Let’s do the things that we can do.
TS, recorded 26 May, photo added 30 May, to be published 2 June 2025
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